The Time Fixer wins best film in 2011 iPhone Film Festival awards

After almost six months and over 300 submissions the second iPhone Film Festival (IFF2) ended on a stunning high with Spain’s The Time Fixer taking top dog in the best film category.

Anyone who has seen The Time Fixer has been totally blown away by the highly stylized 7:16 film that depicts a gangland killing. Think of Reservoir Dogs crossed with A Clockwork Orange and you’ll get the idea of this mini classic – shot completely on an iPhone 4.

Written, directed & produced by Conrad Mess (Me.S.S. FilmMakers), The Time Fixer is only his second film (an outstanding achievement) and he describes himself as ’a complete newbie to film-making‘.

The Time Fixer has a raw quality to it, as if the director corralled a few friends, discovered a disused warehouse and simply started shooting.

And that is the essence of filming on a smartphone. Ruben Kazantsev, co-founderof IFF, agrees. “One no longer needs a multi-millionbudget to make a film or a crew of actors and supporting cast that can easily fill a major venue,” he says.

The Time Fixer was edited with Premiere After Effects & Cinema4D and the results speak for themselves.

IFF2 spokesperson and senior contributor Miguel Johnson describes the special affects on The Time Fixer as “awesome” and the story “attention grabbing”, the quality “so good that it was simply hard to believe it was shot on an iPhone,” he says.

“The Time Fixer was simply brilliant, the acting, directing, voiceover, and post-productionwas amazing. It had the stroke of a million dollar production, but was all shot from an iPhone,” Johnson says.

Me.S.S. FilmMakers win the top prize of over $4,500 worth of equipment including an Owle Bubo by ALM Live, a Steadicam Smoothee by Tiffen and film editing software from Red Giant Software.

Running a very close second in the Best Film category was Russian film The Editor, written and Directed by Chris Nong, about an online journalist who literally gets wrapped up in his own story.

“Three stories eloquently wrapped into one story. The Editor managed to capture your senses with a Russian mobster style film, it then transitions to a film of an editor attempting to balance his love life with his passion, then again rewraps you in a story of an editor editing a film,” says Johnson.

“The artists did a great job of steadying the first two films together. They provided enough material in the first two films to keep the audience wanting more and in suspense. However, there were a lot of questions unanswered in the third and final film. Nevertheless it is an amazing storyline and the acting and cast was A+.”

Taking third place in the Best Film category was another IFF2 favourite; Money Bags from South Korean director Sun ung Kim, and one that Johnson certainly enjoyed watching.

“This is one of the films that has nothing at all to say, zero dialogue but somehow your eyes are glued to the screen,” he says.

“I normally watch most of the films, if not all at least three to four times. I then narrow my selection down by various ways, corporate secret, but somehow I manage to gravitate back to specific films.

“Money Bags was one of those films that I initially told myself I wasn’t going to like. Yet, it grabbed me — the music selection is perfect, the actors simply amazing.”

Toronto singer-songwriterLindi Ortega not only scored a hit with her debut album Little Red Boots – but those boots also walked off with the IFF2’s best music video award for the single Angels off the album.

Ortega shot the video on her iPhone 4 using a 8mm vintage camera app.

“Great music and a perfectly shot video with great warmth to it” says Johnson.

Winner of the best cinematography category went to a Hungarian film called Yearlapse by Zsolt Haraszti.

This is perhaps the hardest category because of the sheer number of entries and quality of submissions. Videography has really come into its own with the iPhone and there have been some stunning examples in this category.

“Condense one year into 365 seconds and you get Yearlapse,” says Johnson. “This film brings you into the life of the director/photographer. You join him in hisyear-longjourney through different parts of the world. It’s difficult finding the perfect music selection for certain videos; Haraszti nailed it with his choices.”

While the IFF2 may have wrapped up, its organizers are already making plans for next year – and with the arrival of the iPhone 4S and its much improved camera and lenses we can only anticipate the standard of film-makingin 2012.

“The bar has been set,” says Kazantsev. “Artists have taken filming with an iPhone to a new, higher level that will be difficult to match, if not surpass.”

Kazantsev praised all the submissions as “simply inspiring” and urged film-makersto continue using their smartphones and sharpen their skills by embracing this highly accessible and wonderful new medium.
● smartmoviemaking.com is the official media partner of the 2011 iPhone Film Festival